Powhatan

/paʊˈhætn/

Other forms: Powhatans

Definitions of Powhatan

1. noun

   Indian chief and founder of the Powhatan confederacy of tribes in eastern Virginia; father of Pocahontas (1550?-1618)
   synonyms: Wahunsonacock

   example of:

   Algonquian, Algonquin

   a member of any of the North American Indian groups speaking an Algonquian language and originally living in the subarctic regions of eastern Canada; many Algonquian tribes migrated south into the woodlands from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic coast

   Indian chief, Indian chieftain

   the leader of a group of Native Americans
2. noun

   a member of the Algonquian people who formerly lived in eastern Virginia
   examples:

   Rebecca Rolfe

   a Powhatan woman (the daughter of Powhatan) who befriended the English at Jamestown and is said to have saved Captain John Smith's life (1595-1617)

   type of:

   Algonquian, Algonquin

   a member of any of the North American Indian groups speaking an Algonquian language and originally living in the subarctic regions of eastern Canada; many Algonquian tribes migrated south into the woodlands from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic coast
3. noun

   the Algonquian language of the Powhatan
   type of:

   Algonquian, Algonquian language, Algonquin

   family of North American Indian languages spoken from Labrador to South Carolina and west to the Great Plains